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Thursday, August 27, 2015

Review: Impossible (Huntsford Hearts #1) by Laurel Ulen Curtis

One Accident. Two losses. Three years.

Veronica
Russo chases storms, but runs from her past by staying firmly in the
present. Unwilling to consider the possibility of a future, she’s
checked out of life by using solitude and standoffishness as her armor
and a sharp tongue and quick wit as her weapons.

Coleman Cade is
a walking contradiction- just like his mismatched eyes. A rough and
manly bull rider with a playful side. A ladies man with thousands of
willing victims, but what he really wants is one woman. The right woman.

Will Roni be able to let go, move on, and find a way to fulfill
her dream of having everything? Or will unsubstantiated choices and
unresolved demons stand in the way of their happily ever after?

In
order to overcome past tragedies and find true happiness- in order to
have everything- Roni needs to do one thing. Find the impossible.

This is the first book that I've read by Laurel Ulen Curtis, so I didn't really know what to expect. From the very beginning, I connected with Impossible and I think it was because it's about Roni and she's a storm chaser. I grew up in Oklahoma City with storm chasers and tornadoes being very familiar and our way of life. As crazy as storm chasers seem to outsiders, they are necessary during storm season and we've relied on their knowledge on more than one occasion. Anyhow, I connected quite quickly with the novel because of that.

The story was one that surprised me on more than one occasion. I thought that I knew what was going to happen in quite a few of the situations in this book (you know how you think you know what is going to happen next and most of the time you're right?) but I was sorely mistaken quite a few times. There were many situations that took me by surprise and kept me on my toes with this one. I liked how the story was written, you're left a bit in the dark with the main character, Roni, as she searches for herself within these unfamiliar situations and feelings. It made the book read quite smoothly and scoot right along.

Roni is the perfectly flawed character that I'm always searching for when I read. I like how she was so incredibly broken and you're right there with her as she tries to figure out herself, her past and her future. I think it's interesting to be there with a character at rock bottom and see where they are able to go from there and the author did a great job with that regression and progression. I also enjoyed Coleman Cade. A lot. I can't really pinpoint anything in particular that I loved because it was just about everything about him. (And the bonus scene at the end was AWESOME!! Major thanks to the author for including that.)

There was one thing that I detested in this novel. Sweet baby Jesus, it drove me absolutely crazy. I know that people have phrases that they use all the time (sometimes ad nauseum) and this was one of those. I shit you not, when I read this one word each of the 21 times that it was in the book, I wanted to smash my Kindle into oblivion. It was irritating and all together, too much. Too damn much. Roni said this phrase so much that it almost made me just put the book down altogether. That sounds silly, right? Well, I think it's because the phrase just didn't seem to mesh with the character at all. It didn't seem authentic and if the purpose was to keep Roni from cussing, I think that there would be other words that she could use because it made Roni sound like a 15 year old instead of the 30-something woman that she was. And no, I'm not going to tell you the word, you need to read the book and see if you pick up the same thing that I did. Hopefully it was just me being pissy and nit-picky.

All in all, it was a great book and I'll read something else by this author, for sure. Well, as long as she doesn't use that damn word again. Holy cannoli. If I never read that word again, it will be too soon.